P99 Lockup

[Fireatwill]

My new Walther P99 locked up today at the range. Since it locked with a live round in the chamber, I took it directly to a 'smith. Then I called S&W
(Smith and Walther). They are going to look at the gun after it's defused. The shipping is at their expense. The ammo is 115 gr. Brown Bear. It is Russian ammo. I ran two mags of the same stuff thru my Kahr PM9 and it worked fine. Is it the gun or the ammo? I'll keep the board posted. In the meantime I'm going to try the same ammo in my CZ.

 

[Fed168]

Could the case be out of spec? My inclination is the ammo, the case being a tad too large for the chamber.

 

[45R]

If it were my gun I would stay away from the Russian stuff. There is plenty of cheap 9mm available. Example would be Winchster White Box from Walmart 100 rounds for 10.95

Don't put that Russian Bear Crap stuff through anymore of your guns. If your dead set on using it at least wait until you find out if it was ammo of the gun that caused the lock up. IIRC the casings used are steel.

 

[357SIG]

My Glock jammed so badly that it took two people to clear it. One person held the frame while the other pulled back the slide. Once cleared, I never had a problem from then on. I had about 4,000 rounds through it prior to that.

How many rounds did you fire through this gun before it jammed? If you went 3,000 rounds without any problem, then I'd say it was crappy ammo, rather than the gun.

 

[Wildalaska]

Ammo! Ammo...just another example of crap Russian ammo...

Agian, if it isnt 7.62X39 in an AK or SKS you are risking a gunsmith trip...

WildgoodammoAlaska

 

[Penforhire]

Do post what they report. Sure, crap ammo is most likely but anything is possible.

 

[Fireatwill]

Thanks for the good advice. I pick up the gun from the smith tomorrow. I will find out then what he thinks happened. I measured the fired cases from the ones that fired pre lockup. The cases were in spec.

I know better than to use crap ammo in a good gun. It's like guys that get married for the third time; they know better but do it anyway.

 

[45R]

I'd be pretty interested if it was the gun or crappy ammo. How clean was your gun when it ceased up?

 

[SouthpawShootr]

While you're at the shop, see if they have any case gauges. These things measure every vital spec of a given cartridge at once. Drop the catridge in and if it doesn't smoothly and completely slide into the gauge, you're out of spec. My XD9 jammed up so tight that a gunsmith had to pound the loaded round out from the front using a dowel (not exactly the safest thing you would do, but you can't ship a loaded gun). Up to this point these loads had worked perfectly in my Glocks, but I found that my XD would only chamber loads that were nearly perfect according to the case guage. If you get the guage, use it to measure the remainder of the ammo that you have. My guess would be (from what you've described) that the ammo is out of spec. This is probably the most likely cause.

Now my dad locked up his P99QA so tight that it had to be sent back to the factory (it was not loaded at the time, he was just goofing around with it). He said he was trying to field strip if when if locked up. Smalther never did say what the problem was, but fixed it and sent it back with no gunsmithing charge. Now the good news is that our local smith said he never has seen one of these lock up like this and he has several. My own P99 has been flawless, but I don't shoot it as much as I should.

I'll be interested in finding out what happened.

 

[Bowlcut]

Ammo....

Thats one of the first P99 foulups ive heard. I have a sw99 with problay 1700+ rounds though it this year with 0 failures of any type. I dont use anything "cheaper" than winchester white box from wallyworld. See no reason to, as even at gunshow prices its hard to beat that deal.

but if the smith gets the case out...have him mic it to see if its way out of spec.

 

[Fireatwill]

Re; P99

Thanks again for the good advice. To answer a few questions. I had put 100 rounds of Win white box through the gun about a week ago. I did not clean it afterward. I usually let a new gun go 4 to 500 rounds before cleaning. I think that any quality pistol should be able to handle that amount of use between cleanings. After break in, I clean it after every use. I will see what the cartridge looks like tomorrow. If possible I'll measure the length. The slide had locked back about 3/4" from going into battery. Remember, it held a live round so I don't think it was a case of the shell expanding.

Will keep you posted.

 

[zen_grasshopper]

Every company can and will produce a lemon or two, things slip by quality control department. They are only human.

I was at an indoor range with a buddy who had a German Walther P99, he had a malfunction and didn't know what to do. I looked at it and it hadn't gone completely into battery. I racked the round out and looked at it and tried it in my Glock 19, failure to go in to battery.

When I got home I took a caliper to the round and it wasn't a 19mm case it was a 21mm case. Brand of ammo, Winchester White Box from a 100 round bulk pack.

It happens and sorry it happened to you, and I truly hope that it was the ammo not the gun.

Jon

 

[mrapathy2000]

serves you right for using cheap russian ammo in a perfectly fine quality firearm.

 

[PrudentGT]

You must be mistaken -- the P99 is the incarnation of a flawless handgun.

Seriously tho, I *did* manage to get mine to lock up the other day. I was chambering a snap cap w/o the use of a magazine (the only one handy was full of shiny RA9T, okay?). So I tilted the Walther forward and tried to balance the snap cap precariously on the feed ramp so the extractor wouldn't slam into it as the slide closed. Well, didn't work out the way I had planned. One end of the cap seemed to be wedged against the inside portion of the slide stop, the other... well, the other was wedged *somewhere*. Took me several minutes to coax it out. There's a lesson there, somewhere, if only I didn't have the attention span of... what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, second the vote on the ammo, esp. Russian stuff. Do you put coal in the gas tank of a Porsche? Well, *do* you?

Once you get your Walther all squared away you're going to love it. All my other guns are now 'retired.' The thing is so accurate it's actually kind of spooky. I have a feeling it's just the design of the grip and that it fits me so well, but it's still spooky.

 

[45R]

So was it gun or ammo?

 

[Schuey2002]

I sold mine before it ever got the chance to lockup ..

Yeah, was it the ammo or the Smith 'n Walther?

 

[Fireatwill]

Well, I got the gun back but the 'smith wasn't in when I went to the shop. The clerk didn't know what the smith did. I measured some more of the russian ammo and there does seem to be variations in the overall bullet lengths. My bet is the problem is with the ammo. It's going to the S&W service center anyway. Just going over the gun, I discovered that if I remove the slide, then replace it, the double action will not work. I have to pull the slide back to cock the striker. Then it's fine. Something strange here. Stay tuned for further reports.